Study on effect of supercritical CO2 on structural ordering and charge transporting property in thiophene-based block copolymer

We reported that supercritical (sc) annealing of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), and its block copolymers with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and polystyrene (PSt) brought about improvements in the crystal structure and hole mobility, determined by the space charge limited current (SCLC) measurement. P3HT-b-PEO showed the largest increase in mobility. From XRD profile, it was found that the treatment with scCO2 increased the crystallite size and crystallinity. UV-vis spectra showed that the effective conjugation length in the scCO2 treated films was increased compared to the as-spun, suggesting that CO2 molecules are incorporated into domains of the second block domains and P3HT amorphous region, and assist to alter the characteristics of the crystalline region. Then, it was considered that the change in the crystalline structure and the improvement of P3HT chains packing led to the enhanced mobility. Since PEO is known to have a higher affinity for CO2, the increase of mobility was specifically intensive.

Do Co-Worker Networks Increase or Decrease Productivity Differences?

Do labor mobility and co-worker networks contribute to convergence or divergence between regions? Based on the previous literature, labor mobility contributes to knowledge transfer between firms. Therefore, mobility may contribute to decreasing productivity differences, while limited mobility sustains higher differences. The effect of co-worker networks, however, can be two-fold in this process; they transmit information about potential jobs, which may enhance the mobility of workers—even between regions—and this enhanced mobility may contribute to levelling of differences. However, if mobility between regions involves movement costs, co-worker networks may concentrate locally—possibly contributing to the persistence of regional differences. In this paper, we build an agent-based model of labor mobility across firms and regions with knowledge spillovers that reflects key empirical observations on labor markets. We analyze the impact of network information provided about potential employers in this model and find that it contributes to increasing inter-regional mobility, and subsequently, to decreasing regional differences. We also find that both the density of coworker networks, as well as their regional concentrations, decrease if network information is available.

A Mixed Reality Interface for a Digital Twin Based Crane

Digital twin technology empowers the digital transformation of the industrial world with an increasing amount of data, which meanwhile creates a challenging context for designing a human–machine interface (HMI) for operating machines. This work aims at creating an HMI for digital twin based services. With an industrial crane platform as a case study, we presented a mixed reality (MR) application running on a Microsoft HoloLens 1 device. The application, consisting of visualization, interaction, communication, and registration modules, allowed crane operators to both monitor the crane status and control its movement through interactive holograms and bi-directional data communication, with enhanced mobility thanks to spatial registration and tracking of the MR environment. The prototype was quantitatively evaluated regarding the control accuracy in 20 measurements following a step-by-step protocol that we defined to standardize the measurement procedure. The results suggested that the differences between the target and actual positions were within the 10 cm range in three dimensions, which were considered sufficiently small regarding the typical crane operation use case of logistics purposes and could be improved with the adoption of robust registration and tracking techniques in our future work.

Optimized Synthesis Routes of MnOx-ZrO2 Hybrid Catalysts for Improved Toluene Combustion

In this contribution, the three Mn-Zr catalysts with MnxZr1−xO2 hybrid phase were synthesized by two-step precipitation route (TP), conventional coprecipitation method (CP) and ball milling process (MP). The components, textural and redox properties of the Mn-Zr hybrid catalysts were studied via XRD, BET, XPS, HR-TEM, H2-TPR. Regarding the variation of synthesis routes, the TP and CP routes offer a more obvious advantage in the adjustment of the concentration of MnxZr1−xO2 solid solution compared to the MP process, which directly commands the content of Mn4+ and oxygen vacancy and lattice oxygen, and thereby leads to the enhanced mobility of reactive oxygen species and catalytic activity for toluene combustion. Moreover, the TP-Mn2Zr3 catalyst with the enriched exposure content of 51.4% for the defective (111) lattice plane of MnxZr1−xO2 exhibited higher catalytic activity and thermal stability for toluene oxidation than that of the CP-Mn2Zr3 sample with a value of 49.3%. This new observation will provide a new perspective on the design of bimetal catalysts with a higher VOCs combustion abatement.

Effect of the Preparation Method of LaSrCoFeOx Perovskites on the Activity of N2O Decomposition

N2O remains a major greenhouse gas and contributor to global warming, therefore developing a catalyst that can decompose N2O at low temperatures is of global importance. We have investigated the use of LaSrCoFeOx perovskites for N2O decomposition and the effect of surface area, A and B site elements, Co–O bond strength, redox capabilities and oxygen mobility have been studied. It was found that by using a citric acid preparation method, perovskites with strong redox capabilities and weak Co–O bonds can be formed at relatively low calcination temperatures (550 °C) resulting in highly active catalysts. The enhanced activity is related to the presence of highly mobile oxygen species. Oxygen recombination on the catalyst surface is understood to be a prominent rate limiting step for N2O decomposition. Here the reduced strength of Co–O bonds and mobile lattice oxygen species suggest that the surface oxygen species have enhanced mobility, aiding recombination, and subsequent regeneration of the active sites. La0.75Sr0.25Co0.81Fe0.19Ox prepared by citric acid method converted 50% of the N2O in the feed (T50) at 448 °C. Graphic Abstract